1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to toy airplanes and other such manually launched projectiles. More particularly, the present invention relates to the interface on the toy airplane where a person engages the airplane in order to throw the airplane.
2. Prior Art Description
There are many different types of toy airplanes that are designed to actually fly. Many of these toy airplanes have strong motors and landing gear that enable the toy airplanes to take flight without being launched. Such toy airplanes tend to be expensive and remote controlled. Such toy airplanes are therefore designed primarily for use by skilled adults. However, the majority of flying toy airplanes are designed for children and come in the form of gliders. Such toy airplanes must be manually thrown and can sustain flight for only short periods of time.
The simplest of toy airplanes, such as folded paper airplanes, are simply grasped by a user's fingers and thrown forward. The action of throwing an airplane requires significant coordination. If a toy airplane is not thrown straight, it will not fly straight. If a toy airplane is held too long during a throw, the airplane is directed into the ground when released. If a toy airplane is thrown too hard or too softly, the airplane will stall in flight. Therefore, throwing a toy airplane correctly is difficult for many people, especially young children.
If a toy airplane is not thrown correctly, the airplane tends not to fly straight and crash lands. It is the crashing of the toy airplane into the ground that usually causes damage to the airplane and the eventual destruction of the toy airplane. A child may therefore crash and break an airplane well before that child has the chance to learn how to throw the airplane correctly.
In the prior art, there have been many toy airplanes that have been designed to help a child throw the airplane correctly. For example, many toy airplanes are designed with hooks that can be engaged with a rubber band. The airplane can then be launched by engaging the hook with a rubber band and stretching the rubber band. Such prior art launching systems are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,412, to Mihalinee, entitled Glider Toy Assembly.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,392, to Walker, entitled Glider Toy, shows a toy airplane that is manually thrown. The toy airplane has holes formed in its fuselage that help a child to properly grip, throw and release the airplane. However, such launching systems require that the toy airplane have a long wide fuselage to accommodate the finger holes. Toy airplanes rarely have such fuselages, thus the use of the launching system is limited.
Although the use of rubber bands and finger holes may help in the launching of toy airplanes, such structures do nothing to help the toy airplanes safely land. The present invention sets forth a launching system that enables a person to correctly launch a toy airplane with little or no practice. The present invention launching system also has the added advantage of helping a toy airplane land safely without damage. The present invention system is described and claimed below.